Holdback for harness.



N0. 829,885. PATENTED AUG. 2,8, 1906.

H. R. MODONALD. HOLDBACK POR HARNESS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16. 1905.

74 E Si 73 SHOM/m1,!

-rns NoRRIs PETERS cm. WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEOE.

HOLDBACK FOR HARNESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 28, 1906.

Application filed November 16, 1905. Serial No. 287.688.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that l, HALLOCK ROBERT Mo- DONALD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Lisbon, in the county of Columbiana and State ofOhio, have invented a new and useful Holdback for Harness, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in holdbacks for harness.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction ofholdbacks for harness and to provide a simple, inexpensive, andeflicient holdback adapted to enable a horse to be hitched and unhitchedmore rapidly than heretofore and at the same time afford an animalgreater control of a buggy or other vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a holdback extendingfrom the breeching to the point or outer end of the shaft and detachablyengaging the latter, whereby after the holdback has been placed on theouter end of the shaft it is only necessary to fasten the traces andbelly-band to complete the hitching operation.

Another obj ect of the invention is to provide a .socket or thimbleadapted to be quickly applied to and removed from the end of a shaft andhaving means for positively engaging the latter to prevent it fromturning on the same.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in theconstruction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafterfully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, `and pointedout in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that variouschanges in the form, proportion, size, and minor details of constructionwithin the scope of the claims may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view lof a harness providedwith a holdback constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 isan enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the socket or thimble,showing the same applied to a shaft. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective viewof the socket or thimble. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of a portionof the socket or thimble, illustrating the construction of the springfor engaging the shaft.

Like numerals of reference designate corre- 'sponding parts in all thefigures of the drawm s.

g1 designates a holdback-strap secured at its rear end to thebreeching-ring 2 and extending forward therefrom to the front end of theshaft 3 and provided thereat with means for enabling it to be adjustablysecured to a ring 4 of a socket or thimble 5, which is detachably fittedon the front end or point of the shaft 3. Both ends of theholdback-strap are preferably provided with buckles for enabling thestrap to be lengthened or shortened but the adjusting means may beapplied to only one end of the holdback-strap, if desired. The ring is.attached to the socket or thimble by means ofa short strap or piece 6,which is doubled to provide a loop for the ring and which is stitched orotherwise secured to the socket or thimble.

The socket or thimble, which is tapering to fit the front end of theshaft, may be constructed of any suitable material and is composedof abody portion 7 of stout leather stiffened at its front portion by a coreor piece 9 of Wood or other suitable material and secured to the same bytacks 10 or other suitable fastening devices. The front ends of thesocket or thimble and the core, which projects slightly beyond thetapering body portion, are arranged within a metallic tip, which issecured to the core by one or more screws 12 or other suitable fasteningdevices. The screw 12 pierces the tip and the body portion of the socketor thimble and is embedded in the core, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 ofthe drawings. The tip provides an ornamental finish for the front end ofthe socket or thimble.

In order to prevent theA socket or thimble from rotating on the frontend or point of the shaft, a yieldable shaft-engaging device, preferablyin the form of a spring 8, is employed. The spring 8, which is locatedwithin the socket or thimble, extends longitudinally of the same and issecured at its outer end to one of the side Walls thereof by a rivet 13or other suitable fastening device. The spring is bowed between itsends, and its inner or front end 14 is free to enable the bowed portionof the spring to be compressed when the socket or thimble is placed onthe shaft.

It will be seen that the device is in the form of an attachment and maybe applied to any ordinary harness having a collar or breast-strap 15, aback-strap 16, a girth or belly-band 17, a breeching 18, andtraces 19;

that the holdback-strap consists of a single continuous strap arrangedindependently of the traces and extending directly om the front ends ofthe shafts to the breeching, and that the connection of the rear end ofthe holdbacl-strap to the breeching-ring forms the sole connectionbetween the attachment and the harness.

In hitching a horse to a buggy or other vehicle it is only necessary tofit the detachable sockets or thimbles of the holdback on the front endsof the shafts and then fasten the belly-band and traces, and the horseis ready to start. In unhitching the socket or thimble of the holdbackwill readily slip off the shaft when the traces and belly-band areunfastened. The improved holdback enables a horse to be hitched to andunhitched from a vehicle with greater rapidity than heretofore, and italso affords an animal greater control of the vehicle.

It will be noted that the traces extend directly from the breast memberto the whifiietree without any other connection to the vehicle orharness and that the breast member l5 is not connected to the vehicle orthills except through the medium of the traces extending back in theusual manner. It will be noted, further, that the back-strap or saddleand the girth 17 have no connection whatever with the thills except bymeans of the pendent tug-straps. Attention is further directed to thefact that the holdback attachments, including the holdbacl-straps l andtheir attaching thimbles, serve as a connection between the front endsof the thills and 'the breeching of the harness and have no otherconnection with either the harness or the vehicle. By reason of thisrelation of the various elements the horse when holding the vehicle backcontrols the vehicle from the outer ends of the thills, while theextreme flexibility of the connection between the horse and the vehicle,which is ordinarily considered essential, is retained. In other words,the holdback-straps and thimbles are entirely separate from andindependent of the harness, except for the connection between the rearends of the holdback-straps and the breeching. Similarly, the harnessproper is entirely independent of the vehicle, except for its connectiontherewith, through the medium of the traces, tugs, and holdbackstraps,and as these several members are flexible the horse has great freedom ofmovement either forward or back or sidewise between the thills. Thedescribed arrangement is therefore clearly distinguishable from thattype of harness which involves the idea of providing short thills withthimbles to which the saddle, girth, holdback-straps, and breast memberare connected. With this latter arrangement the horse is attached to thethills in a manner to facilitate his quick release in ease of a runaway;but the connectien is such that the horse is deprived of all freedom ofmovement, because the various elements of the harness are directlyconnected to an element rigid with the thills. It is therefore to beunderstood that the phrase the connection of the holdback-straps to thebreeching forming the sole connection between the attachment and theharness is intended to mean that the holdback-straps and thimbles areentirely separate from and independent of thesharness proper, except atthe points where the holdback-straps are attached to the breeching. Itis by reason of this complete separation of the holdback attachmentsfrom all parts of the harness, except the breeching, that the greatflexibility of the connection between the horse and vehicle is possible.It should also be understood that the term breast member employed in theclaims is intended to be of sufficient breadth to comprehend thebreaststrap shown in the drawings or any equivalent form of breastmember as, for instance, the collar and hames ordinarily substituted forthe breast-strap for heavier work.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with an ordinary harness including a breeching,traces, back-strap, girth and breast-strap or collar, of an attachmenttherefor comprising sockets or thimbles iitted on the front ends of theshafts, and holdbaclr-straps, independent of the traces, connected attheir rear ends to the breeching and at their front ends to the socketsor thimbles, the connection of the holdbacli-straps to the breechingforming the sole connection bctween the attachment and the harness.

2. A harness including a girth, breast member, and breeching, incombination with traces extending directly from the breast member, andholdback-straps extended directly from the breeching and having terminalmeans of attachment to the front ends of the thills, said traces andholdbackestraps being otherwise disconnected from and independent ofeach other and of thc harness.

3. A harness including a breast member, girth, and. breeching, incombination with traces extended directly from the breast mem? ber, andholdback attachments each including a holdback-strap and anattachingthim ble, each of said attachments being terminally secured tothe breeching and otherwise disconnected from the harness.

il. A harness including a breast member, girth, and breeching, incombination with thills and a whiifletree, traces extending directlybetween the breast member and whiffl'etree and otherwise disconnectedfrom the harness, and holdback attachments each secured at its oppositeends to the breeching and to the front end of a thill respectively, andotherwise disconnected from the harness IOO IIO

or vehicle, each of said attachments including a holdback-strap and anattaching-thimble.

5. A holdback for harness, comprising a holdback-strap, and a socket orthimble provided on its interior with a compressible shaftengaginffdevice arranged to l'rictionally engage a shaft to prevent the socket orthirnble from rotating on the same.

6. A holdback for harness, comprising a holdback-strap, and a socket orthimble adapted to iit on the front end of the shaft and provided withan interiorly-arranged.

spring secured at one end to the socket or thimble and having its otherend free, said spring being bowed between its ends and arranged to becompressed when the socket or thimble is placed on a shaft.

7. A holdback for harness, comprising a holdback-strap, and a socket orthimble consisting of a tapering leather body portion, a core taperedthroughout its entire length and fitted within the smaller end of thebody portion, a tapered metal tip fitted on the core and receiving andengaging the adjacent end of the leather body portion and clamping thesame on the core, and fastening devices piercing the tip and the leatherbody portion and securing the same to the core.

8. A holdback for harness comprising a holdback-strap, and a socketprovided with interiorly-arranged yieldable means adapted to conform toshafts of different sizes, and arranged to frictionally engage the sameto prevent the socket or thirnble rotating thereon.

9. In a device of the class described7 a thimble or socket provided withan interiorly-arranged spring for frictionally engaging a shaft toprevent the socket from rotating on the front end of the same, saidspring being yieldable to fit shafts of different sizes.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixedIny signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HALLOCK ROBERT MCDONALD.

Witnesses:

C. B. KENTY, NETTIE CHANDLER.

